WBI Founders

Our 19 Year Record

From June 1997 until the present, the Namies have led the first and only U.S. organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals via our websites & over 10,000 consultations, telephone coaching, conducting & popularizing scientific research, authoring books, producing education DVDs, leading training for professionals-unions-employers, coordinating national legislative advocacy, and providing consulting solutions for organizations. We proudly helped create the U.S. Academy of Workplace Bullying, Mobbing & Abuse.

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Posts Tagged ‘Ventura County’

We marvel at the positive results of two California County Grand Juries — Ventura County in 2011 and Riverside in 2012. Thanks to their independence from County administrative and management teams and a rule that enables them to conduct investigations into about anything that interests them, the Grand Jury provides help to bullied targets among County employees. HR is either unable or unwilling to conduct credible investigations of workplace bullying until there are laws compelling strict policies or as long as handmaidens to County executives.

Grand Juries, on the other hand, are citizens likely to be outraged when they learn about the dirty dealings happening in secret and deliberately silenced by those with political connections.

The county workers union (SEIU local 721) led the charge with the Ventura GJ. A bold group of 7 employees were instrumental in getting the Riverside GJ to investigate and to admonish the HR management for fostering abuse within its ranks.

So, with or without the help of a union, we suggest researching whether your county’s grand jury allows citizen complaints about misconduct/bullying by county management and if it can then conduct its own independent investigation. Ventura and Riverside Grand Juries have led the way. Try this at home. Good luck.

The Ventura County Workplace Bullying Story

updated Oct. 27, 2010

Follow the story of a worker-driven push for change of a government workplace culture to drive out bullying. No ending yet. We support the unions whose workers deserve to be free from abusive conduct and retaliation. And we support the County administration that has the opportunity to turn a PR disaster into triumph and do the right thing.

In Ventura County just south of lovely Santa Barbara, California, a remarkable and unusual thing happened. A grand jury (GJ) was convened to act like consultants contracted to investigate complaints (one of their roles in that county) about workplace bullying by current and former county workers. The GJ as investigator concluded that bullying is a problem and employees deserve protection from it. An investigation conducted by HR might have concluded differently (as it nearly always does). The GJ reported that HR procedures are not trusted. Said the county HR director, John Nicoll, “We do not tolerate employees being mistreated because they’ve filed a complaint.” This directly contradicts facts in the GJ report. Note how outsiders found the truth about bullying.